The Impossible, ‘tearjerkers’

I feel like I have far too many film posts, but I guess they’re easier to do than music ones.

Just to start off, to my knowledge I have never cried at a film before. This was no exception, but unlike most film that try to make you cry, this wasn’t even close.

I must also say that I did cry when I went to see The Lion King stage show in London when I was 7.

The Impossible is one of those ‘based on a true story’ films, about the tsunami that hit Thailand and a lot of the Eastern continents. It follows a British family who get separated while in their hotel pool when the wave hits.

From the start the ‘family’ makes no sense, because Ewan McGregor has his usual Scottish voice, Naomi Watts has some kind of dated posh English accent, and the kids sound like they are dotted around the North of England.

The mum and oldest son find each other, and the first third-ish of the film follows them. I had absolutely no emotional attachment to this bit of the story, even as they keep teasing the mother dying.

The part with the father and the two younger sons is more moving, as the dad leaves his kids to keep searching for the other two.

So eventually through a massive series of coincidental reuniting, they all find each other and live happily ever after. I felt slightly robbed by the lack of any secondary characters, the ones that were there were barely explored. A little bit of tragedy befalling a non-vital character seems the norm for these ‘true’ stories.

There was a foreign man who was really nice and let the dad use his phone, we never get to see if he is reunited with his family. I like to think they were all okay, because we liked Foreign Man.

Not a very good film, not one I want to see again. The Fly was on TV after we had finished that one though, which I really like, so that made up for it.